The Committees of the Ginninderra Little Athletics Centre and the UC Ginninderra Athletics Club have recently met to discuss the merger of the two clubs into a single Ginninderra Athletics.

Among the outcomes was a review of the Ginninderra Little Athletics Centre Inc Constitution – which has not been updated in over a decade.

Over the next two weeks, consultation with the Clubs' membership will be undertaken. Below are links to both the old and new (joint), recommended Constitution. A summary paper of the key changes is also listed, along with the full 2018 version of the Constitution for reference.

Key dates to be aware of:

Consultation period: 19 May 2018 – 30 June 2018

Special General Meeting: 10:00am Registration, 10:10am Start on Saturday, 7th July 2018

Please provide any feedback in e-mail to president@ginninderra.com by 12 noon the 30th June 2018.

The first 2017 UC Ginninderra Athletics Club's Winter Time Trial training session was a real hit. Many athletes got their first taste of a fast paced training session at the AIS under the guidance of Head Coach Steve Dodt.

Many of those who took part in the hour long session managed new Personal Bests, including some very fast performances by Rebecca Guest and Austin Tetteh in the 300m, Jeremy Maranan and Jessica Hynes in the 150m, as well as Martin Ting and Helen Pretorius in the 60m.

The 2016-17 Season was very successful for the UC Ginninderra Athletics Club. The Club relies heavily on the dedication and hard work of some truly wonderful volunteers, including the Committee who work tirelessly to provide sporting and social opportunities to members, as well as the professionalism of our Officials and the encouragement and support from our Coaching team. Thank you to everyone who continue to make the Club the best in the ACT.

Throughout the season our members built upon the highly successful return to Athletics ACT Competition in 2015-16 with the following highlights.

Club Performance

The Tigers were named Athletics ACT Pointscore Champions for Open Men, Open Women and Combined Open Age Group. The Tigers also surpassed last season’s points in every age group bar the U20s. In some cases doubling the previous effort.

Our model of operation was the envy of the Association and the newly reformed Woden Athletics Club paid the upmost compliment by adopting our approach for their first year.

The University of Canberra Ginninderra Athletics Club was presented the 2016 inaugural Minister for Sport and Recreation’s Award for Innovation. The UC Tigers were up against some worthy recipients including Touch Football ACT, Tennis ACT and the CBR Brave Ice Hockey team.

The Club’s Facebook page jumped over to a 1000 followers in March 2017 and is now only surpassed by Athletics ACT (1368) for the most likes in Canberra for the sport.

The UC Ginninderra Athletics Club was one of 13 organisations that received funding to support inclusive sport and active recreation opportunities in Canberra. The Tigers used the grant to enhance athletic access for athletes with disabilities and older athletes. Working with Timing Solutions the Tigers invested in electronic timing equipment that when fired would set off the LED light boxes for deaf athletes as well as fire a cap simultaneously. This provides athletes of any age or ability to participate alongside one another at any of Ginninderra’s meets. Ginninderra also invested in Athletes With Disability (AWD/Para) throwing equipment including Gripped Throwing Balls, Throwing Clubs, Precision Grid Mat and Throwing Frame. John Hynes was instrumental in establishing this new opportunity at the Club.

A staggering 31 Club Records were broken in 2016-17 with Australian representatives Chris Hamer and Jordan Gusman sharing the biggest spoils with three each followed by Olympian Mel Breen, Jacob Davill, Sidney Shaw, Annika Wise and Matt Walters all collecting 2 records each. Fellow Australian representative Jessica Penney broke the club record in the Long Jump.

Matt Walters won his first international athletics medal competing for Australia at the 2016 Oceania Melanesian Regional Championships in Suva (FIJI) in the 400mH. Canberra’s best young talent in the 400m Hurdles crossed the line in 55.87s. Matt’s time was his best since Junior Nationals in Perth where he made the Final running 56.82s. Matt also received The Pierre de Coubertin Award that recognises secondary school students who demonstrate values, which are consistent with the Olympic Movement through participation in sporting activities. More than 15,000 young Australians have received the Award since its inception in 1993 including U20 Tiger sprint queen Nathalie Cerritelli.

UC Ginninderra Athletics Club entered teams in the 4x100m and 4x400m Mens and Womens Athletics ACT Relay Championships . It was the Women who lead the way with two medals including a silver in the 4x100m and a bronze medal in the 4x400m. The Men fought well in the 4x100m however a series of baton mix-ups had the Tigers finished outside the medals, however they pushed back strongly in the 4x400m with a convincing silver medal.

Uni Sport

Jordan Gusman was selected in the Australian Universiade Athletics team in Taipei. Fellow UC Students Rachel Tallent and Bryce Anderson join Jordan in the Aussie team. Rachel won a bronze medal in the 2015 Universiade and ANU Tiger Angus Gould joined Rachel on that team.

Sport at UC held the inaugural Sports Ball on Saturday 29th October at The Rex Hotel and Lauren Wells (NCGA) received the Coca-Cola Amatil Athlete of the Year award and a Full Blue Award for representing Australia. Lauren Wells is a current UC Student who completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and is currently studying Bachelor of Primary Education with the goal of becoming a primary school teacher in 2018.

ANU’s Sprint Queen Steph Pollard (QAC) won the Women’s 100m and 200m Finals at the Australian University Games in Perth. Steph ran a sensational time in the final of 11.97s (heat 12.14s) and 24.51s (heat 25.29s) to claim the National University Title in both events. Pollard also competed in the 100mH (4th – 14.73s) at the Championships. Fellow Canberra Sprinter Josh Larnach (WAC) from UC made the 100m semi-final (11.63s and 11.53s in the heat) and competed in the 200m (10th – 23.58s).

Individual Performances

Jordan Gusman has had a magnificent 2016-17 season, having run a sub 4-minute mile, was briefly ranked number 1 in the world for the 1500m, as well as breaking a number of long standing club records.

Sarah Blizzard pulled off an upset in her Stawell Gift semi final beating current Oceania and Australian 100m Champion Toea Wisil to win the 5th semi. In the Final the ABC named Sarah as a weekend favourite to take out the event and she did not disappoint finishing fifth overall in the prestigious competition. Blizzard has made a fist of the Stawell Gift for many years including in the 2014 final where she finished runner-up to Holly Dobbyn. Sarah also recently won the Ballarat Gift 70m Final as Back marker.

Chris Hamer’s time in the Zatopek:10 was a new Club Record beating Jim Tuckey’s 31:54 set in 1992. A time that Joshua Johnson also surpassed which is a great result for both athletes. Chris’ top 5 finish in the Noosa Bolt was another Club Record for a 5000m Road Race, stopping the clock in 14:23.00.

UC Ginninderra athlete Michael Daly competed in the Steigen Spectacular, a 10km race held at Landy Field in Geelong (17 December 2016). The 10,000m event has a $500 cash prize as well as a $10,000 bonus for an Australian record. Entries in the 10k are very selective with each athlete must on form be running a sub 33min. Michael finished in the top 10 in a time of 31:35.87 which is a new PB. His time was faster than Jim Tuckey’s club record of 31:54 set in 1992. Unfortunately for Michael, it came a week too late as his training partner Chris Hamer also managed to beat the 24 year old record at the Zatopek:10 in Melbourne where Chris finished third.

Joshua Johnson with his silver medal at the NSW State 3000m Champs, broke the 8-minute barrier in what was a new Club Record of 7:57.99, beating Rod Higgins 1993 best of 8:12.91. Rod represented Australia internationally three times at IAAF events from 1991 to 1992. Joshua’s 6th place in the Mitchell Street Mile in Darwin was also a new 1600m Road Record for the Tigers in 4:13.00.

Para Athletes

Cameron Crombie who set a new F38 Australian and Oceania Shot Put record only last season, systematically broke his own record 5-times in 2016-17 and increased the distance by a further 2.9m in a year. Cameron has also recorded an A Qualifier for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Cameron’s PB remains the best throw in the world for the last three years and is an automatic qualifier for the London 2017 World Para Championships. Cameron Crombie this season was also included in the National Athlete Support Structure that supports 102 of Australia’s Best Athletes.

University of Canberra student Scott Reardon became a Paralympic champion in the 100m. Surging from the blocks, Scott crossed the line in 12.26 to secure his spot atop the podium from a fast finishing Richard Whitehead (GBR, second, 12.32) and Daniel Wagner (DEN, 12.32).

One of the rising Para Athletes in the club, Eden Thomas had another fantastic season, despite a really bad injury over December and January. Competing at All Schools this season, Eden finished 4th in the U16M (Para) Shot Put, impressive as he had only just turned 14, ten days earlier. Following his forced layoff through injury, Eden fought back at the Australian Athletics Championships going one better in the Shot Put and getting a Bronze Medal in the Shot Put with a new PB. He also finished 5th in the Discus and 7th respectively in the 100m and 200m Finals. This follows Eden’s silver medal in the u16 Mens 400m final in 2016.

Cross Country

UCGAC had a very successful Cross Country season in 2016 where the club won Run_ACT’s Winter Series for the second successive year as the overall club point score winner.

In 2017 the Tigers have formed our own Cross Country program, a first in the ACT to cater for all ages and distances, run out of campus at UC.

The Australian World Cross Country Selection Trials was held at Stromlo Forest Park. The 42nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Uganda in March 2017. UC Ginninderra Athletics Club was well represented with athletes performing strongly: Chris Hamer – 10km (5th), Joshua Johnson – 10km (7th), Reece Edwards – 10km (22nd), and Lilian Anderson – 10km (15th).

Chris Hamer broke the Club’s Cross Country 10,000m record in his 5th placing (30:09.00) at the Australian World Cross Country Selection Trials.

Lilian Anderson also broke the Women’s Record at the Australian World Cross Country Selection Trials at Stromlo finishing in 39:00.00.

At the 2016 Australian Cross Country Championship’s Annika Wise won a bronze medal in the Under 16 Girls 4km team event. A magnificent effort by Annika who was running in her first national Cross Country championships. The team fought hard to beat Western Australia for third by the slimmest of margins – one whole point!

Masters Athletes

Sue Bourke recently competed in the Perth World Champs, which was her first International competition. Sue has been ranked top 5 in the World for the 400m for the last two years. Sue collected Gold Medals in the 4x100m and the 4x400m Relays however it was her Bronze medal in the individual 400m that inspired every Tiger, junior and master alike.

Ken Telfer (M45) competed in the recent World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Ken stepped it down an age group to compete for Australia’s (M40) 4x200m Relay team. The team won their heat comfortably from Hong Kong, Korea, Ireland and Germany. However they finished with a Bronze medal overall just behind Great Britain and Japan.

Mark Rossiter competing in the 2017 World Masters Games in NZ for Australia in the 4x100m team took over 5 seconds off the Australian Masters 30-34years 4x100m record, on the team’s way to a dominant victory and a Gold Medal. He was also a member of the gol medal winning 4x400m relay team.

Neil Thomas and Steve Dodt collectively won 7 Open age Athletics ACT medals at the 2017 State Championships.

Regional Athletes

Albury based members Mitchall Anderson and Jackson Whiley had fantastic seasons themselves south of the border. At the Victorian Little Athletics Championships Mitch got 2nd in discus, 3rd in shot put and 6th in triple jump.

Jackson fresh from his inclusion in the ACT team for the Australian All Schools Championships where he finished 5th in the final, claimed the gold medal in the 2016 Victorian All Schools Track & Field Championship and the silver medal at the NSW All Schools Championships in October.

Dual Registered Little Athletes

UC Ginninderra’s up and coming dual registered Little Athletes showed at the recent 2017 LAACT State Championships there’s a new generation talent on the rise within the Tigers. Collectively the U12 to U17 Little Athletes from UC, collected a staggering 49 Golds, 22 Silvers and 19 Bronze medals between them, Boys and Girls.

The UC Tigers had the most dual registered Little Athletes of any AACT Club in 2016-17 further growing the sport.

At the recent Australian Little Athletics Championships the Tigers had five dual registered members representing the ACT including Team Captain Rebecca Guest and 200/400m Finalist Austin Tetteh.

Volunteers and Officials

This year the ACT Senior Australian of the Year has been awarded to marathon coach Dick Telford. Telford has coached distance runners to eight Commonwealth Games medals, as well as coaching Australia’s only Olympic marathon medallist, Lisa Ondieki. As a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra’s Research Institute for Sport and Exercise and Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University, he is working on a plan to implement physical literacy programs into state education systems. Dick is UCGAC’s Elite Endurance Coach.

The University of Canberra Ginninderra Athletics Club President, Steve Dodt was presented at the inaugural CBR Sport Awards Ceremony, the Outstanding Service to Sport award. Steve received his award from Jenny Priest and Adam Spencer from the ABC.

This year the Children's Week Committee recognised Steve Dodt, as an individual who ‘makes a difference’. Steven was recognised in the Community for Children Award Category for individuals, groups, volunteers, media, organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to children/young people in the community. Steven was presented with his Awards at the 2016 ACT Children’s Week Launch Ceremony held at the National Museum of Australia by the Governor-General of Australia Sir Peter Cosgrove.

Phil Henderson, Mortisha Rauraa and Corrine Henderson obtained their Officials accreditation with Athletics Australia and represented the ACT at Nationals and the SummerOfAths Grand Prix.

Club Head Coach Steve Dodt obtained his IAAF Level 3 Sprints, Relays and Hurdles accreditation in Townsville. He later worked with Athletics Australia to deliver their Coaching Accreditation program in Darwin.

Innovations

The UC Faster Masters program was a success with 10 veteran athletes making their way from suburban runners to Track and Field Veterans over the summer.

The UC Ginninderra Athletics Club ran a pilot partnership with local Belconnen High Schools to assist students who display athletic talent. The West Belconnen Scholarship Program is funded through a generous donation by Club Lime that allows the UC Tigers to offer three places in the program this season. The successful recipients for 2016-17 were Faggy Tshoji, Paul Genders-Dibden and Michael Spong. Thanks again to Club Person of the Year John Hynes for arranging the program between the Schools, the Runners Shop and Club Lime.

The Club ran a successful Winter 2016 Track and Field Distance and Time trial pilot at the AIS Athletics Track. The Tigers were stoked to welcome a number of new members and friends to the club over the winter period. The 2017 edition begins on 13th May at the AIS.

The UC Tigers held several events on Campus over the season including the popular UC Life’s Minute to Win It Mini Games Shot Put event won by Matildas and Canberra United Football Striker Caitlin Muñoz showed she’s not just skilled on the Pitch after throwing the 4kg Shot Put an amazing 9.04m. The Club held a very successful Market Day stall for any student to get their photo taken on top of the Sydney Olympics Dais. The Tigers also participated in the Sports Day Carnivals at UC and ran weekly training sessions for sprinting, throwing and fitness.

Twelve members benefited from employment opportunities at the AIS and Icon Water as the club connected athletes with available work.

The Club also provided subsidised training tickets to members for access to the training facilities at the AIS.